This post reminded me of a paper I read recently as part of a teaching pedagogy program at my school (an add-on to my PhD program):

Goldberg, D. J. (1981). "Problem solving in small groups."

It discusses and highly recommends an approach similar to what's described here, for first-year math courses.

One thing that paper strongly endorses is an "icebreaker" where, e.g., students interview each other in pairs and report back to the class, in fact Goldberg says

Even if group work had not been initiated, the socializing exercise would have been a worthwhile activity for both students and instructor.

I'm convinced that it's worth trying next time I teach a non-huge class but I never participated in one of these as an undergrad. Have readers of this blog had any experience with icebreakers in math/CS courses?

Was this post really by Lance? A quick glance at the U. Chicago CS website reveals that Lance did not in fact teach a complexity course (graduate or other) in Fall 2007. Bill Gasarch, on the other hand, did teach such a course, and it in fact had 11 homeworks... I assume this was just some sort of typo.

(I feel silly posting this since its 4 years later).YES, this was a BILL post. So was the post on WHICH PRESIDENTS KNEW THE MOST MATH. There is a glitch so that all posts before a certain date arelabelled Lance even if bill did them. Usually its easy to tell if itsa bill-post.

(I feel silly posting this since its 4 years later).YES, this was a BILL post. So was the post on WHICH PRESIDENTS KNEW THE MOST MATH. There is a glitch so that all posts before a certain date arelabelled Lance even if bill did them. Usually its easy to tell if itsa bill-post.